Ionic liquids (ILs) are novel green solvents that can be proposed for removing butan-1-ol from the aqueous fermentation media. Ternary (liquid + liquid) equilibrium data are presented for {ionic liquid (1) + butan-1-ol (2) + water (3)} at T = 308.15 K and ambient pressure to analyze the performance of the ionic liquid (IL) in the extraction of butan-1-ol from aqueous phase. The tetracyanoborate-based ILs have been studied: 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tetracyanoborate, ([HMIM][TCB]), 1-decyl-3-methylimidazolium tetracyanoborate, ([DMIM][TCB]) and trihexyltetradecylphosphonium tetracyanoborate, ([P-14,P-6,P-6,P-6][TCB]). The results are discussed in terms of the selectivity and distribution ratio of separation of related systems. The complete miscibility in the binary liquid systems of butan-1-ol with all used ILs was observed. The imidazolium cation in comparison with phosphonium cation shows lower selectivity and distribution ratio. The IL with the longer alkyl chain at the cation shows higher selectivity and distribution ratio in this process. The non-random two liquid NRTL model was used successfully to correlate the experimental tie-lines and to calculate the phase composition error in mole fraction in the ternary systems. The average root mean square deviation (RMSD) of the phase composition was 0.0027. The data presented here indicates the usefulness of [P-14,P-6,P-6,P-6][TCB] as a solvent for the separation of butan-1-ol from water using solvent extraction. The density of [P-14,P-6,P-6,P-6][TCB] was measured as a function of temperature. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.